Research metrics are quantitative tools used to help assess the quality and impact of research outputs.
They can be used to:
- Track the performance of your research.
- Provide evidence to support your claims in grant and promotions applications.
- Identify suitable publishing outlets in strategic publishing plans.
Research metrics are available for use at the article, journal, and even author level. However, a single metric should never be considered in isolation as each metric only tells part of the story and has its own limitations.
Metrics fall into two broad categories:
- Bibliometrics (Citation metrics): These metrics measure the performance of a publication, a publication source, or a researcher.
- Alternative Metrics (Altmetrics): These are measurement tools used to demonstrate how your research outputs are being engaged with online, and complement the traditional citation-based metrics.